Passenger, by Alexandra Bracken

Passenger, by Alexandra Bracken 

Hey all! 
I just finished Passenger, by Alexandra Bracken! It was one of my most anticipated releases of the year, and I wasn’t disappointed! :) 

Goodreads Blurb: 
"In one devastating night, violin prodigy Etta Spencer loses everything she knows and loves. Thrust into an unfamiliar world by a stranger with a dangerous agenda, Etta is certain of only one thing: she has traveled not just miles but years from home. And she’s inherited a legacy she knows nothing about from a family whose existence she’s never heard of. Until now.

Nicholas Carter is content with his life at sea, free from the Ironwoods—a powerful family in the colonies—and the servitude he’s known at their hands. But with the arrival of an unusual passenger on his ship comes the insistent pull of the past that he can’t escape and the family that won’t let him go so easily. Now the Ironwoods are searching for a stolen object of untold value, one they believe only Etta, Nicholas’ passenger, can find. In order to protect her, he must ensure she brings it back to them— whether she wants to or not.

Together, Etta and Nicholas embark on a perilous journey across centuries and continents, piecing together clues left behind by the traveler who will do anything to keep the object out of the Ironwoods’ grasp. But as they get closer to the truth of their search, and the deadly game the Ironwoods are play­ing, treacherous forces threaten to sep­arate Etta not only from Nicholas but from her path home . . . forever”

FIRST OF ALL THAT COVER IS BEAUTIFUL! *-*

I was happy with how this book turned out! It took me a tiny bit of time to get into the story, but I got drawn in soon enough, and couldn’t put it down! 
One thing that made it so appealing for me was this whole idea of time AND space travel. The constant scene change made the story progress constantly and evenly, and kept me anticipating the next area. 

Passenger is a book that has an incredible rhythm. There is a constant beat and a beautiful melody, like a music piece. It was pretty to read, which doesn’t make much sense unless you read it! 

So Etta is a violin prodigy and somewhat surprisingly finds out that she can travel through time. She meets Nicholas and together they go through a kind of time-space scavenger hunt where they need to find an Astrolabe, a device that can create these sorts of portals to go through time. 

The villain, Cyrus Ironwood, is easily hatable, even though he isn’t always looming. He has one scene and that’s it, but that one scene is enough to make me hate him. 

Etta, the ‘pirate’, is so great! She is fiery and stubborn, but also sweet and confident. 
Nicholas is also great, and one thing I appreciated with this book is that it did something that YA books don’t usually do - it covered racism. Nicholas is of color, and they go through times where that is shunned upon. But besides that, he is incredibly brave and caring. 

Their relationship is a tiny bit insta-lovey, but it evolved nicely anyway! 

This book was funny at times! Just simple situations had humorous twists to them that I really appreciated! 

Spoilers!
The ending messed me up! I thought they pulled a Tris! ;-; I’m glad they didn’t though! Now I’m hoping Nicholas’s character may develop more!
When Etta’s mom throws a knife at her... wow I was not seeing their reunion be like that! 
Even though Sophia practically dies, I still don’t like her. 
I feel like some things were a bit too easy for Etta to figure out.
End

One thing I really would have enjoyed is if the author would have given an explanation as to why these select families can time travel. Do they protect something? Or do they just have these powers? Did I miss this part in the book?!

Something that was pretty cool: the Astrolabe is something like a sexton, that measures time and location and position in space. We talked about astrolabes with my dad before it even came up in the book! You should look them up, they look so cool! 

Also, Etta’s family name is “Linden”. We were in an area of Germany where Linden was written everywhere! 

I gave this book a 4/5 starts :) 

Have you read Passenger? What did you think? Let me know!